“Back in the day,” as one says to refer to many years past, I operated both a Hutcherson Pawnee with spring steel gear and an Ag-Cat with the same type of gear (pre-1980). Both of these aircraft had “wire cutters” on the leading edge of the gear legs. I thought it was a super good idea, cost effective insurance in my mind. I remember cutting a wire with them, once, coming down over a tree line with a hidden wire stretching across a small soybean field. The wire snapped back and set the grass on fire along the road. The aircraft was unharmed.
Anyway you cut it, no pun intended, wire cutters are a good thing. The idea is to not cut a wire in the first place. And, in most cases the prop would get the wire, which is definitely not a good thing, especially for a turbine powered aircraft. Although there is only a small area where a wire cutter is effective, it is a critical area where the effect of the wire is the greatest with increased leverage on the gear legs. For the relatively small amount of money they cost, I am sure I would be flying an ag plane with wire cutters.
Drones, aka UAVs, keep popping up their ugly heads. The way things are going, there is not going to be a happy outcome with these devices. I read where Amazon.com was delivering 2000 UAVs a day. That is unfathomable. Surely that information is incorrect. Even so, a 1,000 or even 500 a day demonstrates how infiltrated the air is with them. Undoubtedly, there will be responsible operators who will take whatever steps are necessary to safely share the airspace with low flying aircraft like the ag-plane. However, I really don’t see how that is going to work. Based on recent FAA regulations, the UAV must stay within line of sight, as I understand it. That will surely be a limiting factor. If used in agriculture, there are fields where line of sight would be lost.
UAVs are not just a problem in North America. Earlier this week, my Argentine representative had an encounter with a UAV operator who told him to warn all ag-pilots in the area he would be flying a drone. My contact told him that was not possible that ag-planes operated in uncontrolled airspace. There were words of anger passed on both sides of the phone.
An AgAir Update reader from Wisconsin, Jim Kazmierczak, submitted a very graphic pamphlet of the potential danger of UAVs. Of course, every ag pilot is aware of the danger, but obviously some UAV operators are not or don’t believe. Be sure to check this AgAir Update edition’s Letters to the Editor for a sample of Kaz’s flyer. Readers can also go to agairupdate.com and download this flyer to use in their businesses. I hope it helps.
I would be remiss not to mention that the NAAA is very much involved with the UAV issue, working with the FAA and the appropriate associations affected by UAVs. This is the kind of back door workings that will generate progress with the safe use of UAVs. I am pretty sure they are not going away, so we as ag-operators are going to have to figure out a way to live with them; not unlike METs.
Spring is here in the U.S. and quickly moving into Canada. Most of you potentially have a long season ahead. Now is as good a time as any to start prepping for it. The more things you can accomplish with that preparation while not under the stress a backlog of acres to be treated, the better and safer your life will be. Don’t miss the opportunity. Fly safe.
Until next month, Keep Turning…
